North Shore Heritage would like to remind homeowners to ensure their homes are equipped with working carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in addition to smoke detectors. This is especially important for older homes that may have ageing gas furnaces.

The City of Vancouver is using financial incentives to make demolition less wasteful. Their 'Green Demolition Bylaw’ requires "Heritage homes built before 1950 and all homes built before 1910 (…) be deconstructed with a minimum of three tonnes of wood salvaged.”

When Carol Howie and her family decided to sell their 1913 craftsman home on West Vancouver’s Gordon Avenue, they feared the heritage home, known as Vinson House, would be purchased for its lot value and bulldozed. Instead, the home has been given a brand new lease on life.

Residents of the District of North Vancouver who have completed an improvement to the exterior of their heritage home in the last year might be eligible to apply for a grant of up to $500 towards those costs.

Over the past decade or more, the relentless demolition of our built heritage has been the cause of great concern and regret to our community. Why does this matter? Because heritage buildings give communities a deep sense of history and identity, known in the jargon as a “sense of place.”